"Sonder" Definition — noun. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own — populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness — an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you'll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk. (via the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)

Inspired by the definition above, this program alternates between the voice of the individual and the response of the many. At the core lies a fight to be understood, and the gradual emergence of compassion through imagination.

Taking place at the Chorus Public House, Sonder features a string sextet plus voice, sitting in a circle at the center of the room. Book-ended by two original compositions by Micah Behr, the program moves through works that span decades including compositions by Handel, Brahms, Ligeti, Satie, Dutilleux and Caroline Shaw.

Musicians:
Sarah Brailey, Voice
Vini Sant’ana, Violin
Madlen Breckbil, violin
Micah Behr, viola
Laila Zakzook, viola
Phil Bergman, cello
Aaron Fried, cello